UAE ranks first in Arab world for AI adoption

The UAE has been ranked first in the Arab world for adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), according to a new report.

The study by Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority’s Dubai Technology Entrepreneurship Campus (Dtec), in collaboration with ArabNet and startAD, predicts that AI will account for 45 per cent of the world economy’s total gains by 2030.

AI is expected to have the highest contribution to the UAE economy than any other in the Arab world at 33.5 per cent, followed by Saudi Arabia at 31.3 percent, the rest of the GCC region at 28.8 percent, and Egypt at 25.5 percent.

“The results of the report reiterate our country’s continued success in implementing the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence. His Excellency Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of Artificial Intelligence, highlighted the strategy’s latest developments during the annual meetings of the UAE government in November 2018,” said deputy CEO of Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, Shahla Ahmed Abdul Razak.

The report indicates there are multiple solutions AI can offer to companies, including operational applications, automation of robotic operations, reengineering of business processes, blockchain, big data analysis for marketing, customer care and data management, as well as using neural programming in talent search.

It also identifies three different priority areas for enterprise adoption of AI solutions – AI for operation enhancement, AI for customer service enhancement and AI for growth strategy support.

Furthermore, the report outlines the concerns of entities regarding AI, primarily the risk of security breach, data leaks, privacy threats, job replacement, lack of knowledge required by suppliers, and the absence of regulatory frameworks in many countries.

Companies specialising in AI are called upon to dispel these fears.

A study released this year by PwC found that AI would contribute $96bn to the UAE’s GDP by 2030, equivalent to 13.6 per cent.